Absorbent articles such as conventional taped diapers, pull-on diapers, training pants, incontinence briefs, and the like, offer the benefit of receiving and containing urine and/or other bodily exudates. Such absorbent articles can include a chassis that defines a waist opening and a pair of leg openings. A pair of barrier leg cuffs can extend from the chassis toward the wearer adjacent the leg openings, thereby forming a seal with the wearer's body to improve containment of liquids and other body exudates. Conventional chassis include an absorbent core that is disposed between a topsheet and a garment-facing outer cover (also known as a backsheet).
The outer cover can include a stretchable waistband at one or both of its ends (e.g., proximal opposing laterally extending edges), stretchable leg bands surrounding the leg openings, and stretchable side panels, which additional components can be integral or separate discrete elements attached directly or indirectly to the outer cover. The remainder of the outer cover typically includes a non-stretchable nonwoven-breathable film laminate. Undesirably, however, these diapers sometimes do not conform well to the wearer's body in response to body movements (e.g. sitting, standing, and walking), due to the relative anatomic dimensional changes (which can, in some instances, be up to 50%) in the buttocks region caused by these movements. This conformity problem is further exacerbated because one diaper typically must fit many wearers of various shapes and sizes in a single product size.
The dimensions of the smallest and biggest wearers within a given product size range can be markedly different. For instance, in the case of wearers, the waist circumference at the navel can vary by 80 mm within a size range. Also, the navel-to-back distance, which is the distance from the navel, around the crotch, and to a point on the back of the wearer that is in the same horizontal plane as the navel, can vary by about 80 mm from the smallest to the largest wearers in this same size range.
In addition, many caregivers and wearers prefer the look and feel of cotton underwear not provided by conventional diapers. For instance, cotton underwear includes elastic waist and leg bands that encircle the waist and leg regions of the wearer and provide the primary forces that keep the underwear on the wearer's body. Furthermore, the cotton outer cover (except in the waist and leg bands) can be stretched along the width and length directions in response to a relatively low force to accommodate the anatomic dimensional differences related to movement and different wearer positions. The stretched portion returns back to substantially its original dimension once the applied force is removed. In other words, the cotton outer cover of the underwear exhibits low-force, recoverable biaxial stretch that provides a conforming fit to a wider array of wearer sizes than conventional diapers.